Three projects were reviewed and voted on during a four-hour Oct. 9 Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board meeting.

In a continuation of an appeal from the Sept. 11 zoning hearing of John M. Belles for a home-based business, 1205 E. Emmaus Ave., zoners voted 5-0 to deny a variance for a tree-service business, which is not a permitted use and to not modify a zoning hearing board decision Nov. 6, 1990, which determined the use is a home-based business.

John Belles resides at the property at East Emmaus and Gaskill avenues, it was testified.

The property is in the R4, Medium Density Residential zoning district.

“I don’t believe the board has the right to revoke that decision,” Attorney William J. Fries, Fitzpatrick, Lentz & Bubba, PC, solicitor, Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board, said before the zoners’ vote about the 1990 zoning board determination.

Zoners voted 5-0 to deny changing the start of hours of operation for the business to 6:30 a.m. and to retain the business operating hours of 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

There are five employees at the site, it was testified.

Zoners voted 5-0 to deny the expansion of the number of commercial vehicles that may be parked on the property and to limit that number to five vehicles: one bucket truck, two chipper trucks and two dump trucks.

There will be no repairs or maintenance of vehicles at the site, according to testimony.

Zoners voted 5-0 to deny a variance to increase the illumination level from luminaire at any property boundary which abuts a residential lot line to one-half foot-candle, and which prohibits any light source from being visible at a point 50 feet from the lot line at a height of more than four feet above grade.

Also denied was a variance from prohibiting spotlights directed from one property into an abutting dwelling or onto the porches of an abutting dwelling.

Neighbors at the hearing testified about the property. “The lighting comes onto my property,” a woman said.

“My complaint is not with the lighting, but with the chain saw at 6:45 in the morning,” a man said.

“There’s three lights on the barn that shoot downward,” Belles said.

“We’re going to remove the lights from the poles,” Attorney William G. Malkames of Malkames Law Office, representing Belles said.

“The one pole must be removed or you need a permit from DEP [Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection]. The one [pole] closest to the creek [Trout Creek] needs to be removed,” Salisbury Township Zoning Officer Kerry Rabold said.

Belles said the pole can be removed.

Rabold said Belles would have 30 days from the date of the zoning hearing to remove the pole.

“We have to go back to the zoning officer to review the lighting,” Malkames said.

A variance request for a structure in the flood plain of Trout Creek was withdrawn because the concrete blocks were removed. “They have removed the structure,” Malkames said.

Malkames also represented the appeal, which zoners voted 5-0 to grant at the Oct. 9 hearing, by Maranatha Broadcasting Company, Inc., doing business as WFMZ-TV, requesting a variance to raze an existing attached greenhouse and construct two additional rooms to the rear of a dwelling unit, 3036 Saucon Ave., increasing the total impervious coverage (15 percent maximum permitted; 22.95 percent existing and 24.2 percent proposed) and increasing the total building coverage (10 percent maximum permitted; 10.6 percent existing and 11.7 percent proposed).

The property is in the CR, Conservation-Residential zoning district.

“We buy homes around the station so that we can house people in times of storms,” Barry Fisher, president-general manager, WMFZ-TV said.

The one-story house is occupied by Israel Alejandro, master control manager, WFMZ-TV, and his family.

“Maranatha owns a lot of properties in the area,” Malkames said.

“Are you familiar with any drainage issues?’ Attorney Kent H. Herman, chairman, Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board asked.

“The whole [South] Mountain is a drainage issue,” Fisher replied.

Zoners voted 5-0 to grant the appeal of Elias Saloum and Jennifer Camacho, 529 E. Rock Road, for a variance to maintain a six-foot privacy-style fence within the required front yard setback along Mountain Top Lane (50-foot setback required; 23-feet exists).

“I wanted a fence to keep my kids and dog in the yard. I have a four-foot, aboveground pool,” Camacho said.

“If the fence would be moved back, it would eliminate use of most of the yard,” Fries observed.

Neighbors testified they do not object to the fence. A neighbor said the property is kept in “really good shape.”

The property is in the CR, Conservation- Residential zoning district.

At the Sept. 11 zoning hearing, zoners voted 5-0 to grant the appeal of Saucon Construction, LLC, requesting a variance to construct a single-family, detached dwelling at 220 Fretz Ave., which exceeds the minimum required front yard setback (25 feet required; 18 feet proposed) and the minimum rear yard setback (35 feet required; 30 feet proposed). The property is in the R4, Medium Density Residential zoning district.

The Salisbury Township Zoning Hearing Board next meets 7 p.m. Nov. 13 in the meeting room of the municipal building, 2900 S. Pike Ave.

The Salisbury Township Environmental Advisory Council meets 7 p.m. Oct. 16 in the meeting room of the municipal building. The agenda includes: New Business: Tree Pennsylvania Grant - Trees being planted, locations, volunteers and Old Business: Chestnut tree planting project, further discussion of placement.

The October Salisbury Township municipal meeting agenda includes: 7 p.m. Oct. 23, planning commission, canceled and 7 p.m. Oct. 24, board of commissioners.